1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus, in particular an intelligent lighting module, capable of enabling a generic building block light source that possesses uniform hardware and power requirements and is capable of being formed into a seamless display. In particular, the present invention relates to an electronic apparatus for a self-regulating, high-intensity electronic apparatus for a lighting module that can be packaged for different applications or markets and is capable of displaying standard video or providing standard digital lighting technology in a single module.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
High-intensity light sources, such as incandescent, fluorescent, and halogen lamps, have been long used in many large-scale applications, such as large public information displays, outdoor stadium displays and theatrical lighting systems. Originally, large, manually-operated switches and dimmers were located near the lamps to control the illumination of many large-scale lighting applications. Later, lamps were remotely operated by use of electronic dimmers that employ a low voltage direct current (DC) to control the lamps' high voltage power. Most recently, however, digitally controlled illumination systems have been developed in which a network of individual lights is controlled by a central computer controlled console. Such illumination systems are widely used today in, for example, theatrical lighting systems. In 1986, the U.S. Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT) developed the DMX512-protocol as a standard digital interface between dimmers and computer control consoles. In the DMX512 protocol, each lamp has a digital address and responds to the digital commands sent on a control cable to this address. A lamp may possess multiple addresses. For example, a color changing light may have one address to set the mode of the lamp (on/off/sound activated), another address to select the color, and a third address to set the speed at which the lamp changes the color. The DMX512 protocol is capable of controlling up to 512 addresses per each lighting group that is referred to as a “universe.” The DMX512 protocol has allowed uniformity in programming digital lighting; however, a custom hardware setup that uses a variety of lamps is often created each time a lighting system is needed. Often, lamps have different power requirements: in some cases, they require external regulation; in other cases, they require high voltage, unregulated power supplies. Thus, what is needed, is an electronic apparatus capable of enabling a generic building block light source that possesses uniform hardware and power requirements and is compatible with industry standard lighting control protocols. Therefore, what is further needed is an electronic apparatus capable of enabling a self-regulating, high-intensity lighting module that can be packaged for different applications or markets, for example, for architectural lighting, for retail advertising, or for traditional theatrical lighting.
In a separate development area, projection systems have long been used to display large-scale moving pictures. The first commercial applications of large-scale video displays were limited to large arrays of television monitors. Relatively recent advances in the manufacture of light emitting diodes (LEDs) have made them an attractive light source for large-scale video displays. Large-scale video displays are now being used for sports stadiums, race tracks, arenas, coliseums and concert halls. Therefore, the market is demanding lighter, cheaper and larger displays that are easy to install, maintain and disassemble, especially for use in temporary venues; these are market specifications that are not possible to achieve in the older technologies. Additionally, in many large-scale applications, for example, in large concert halls or stadium music events, both video and lighting effects are desired. However, different display elements are generally needed for large-scale video versus large-scale lighting, in order to create the desired effects. Therefore, a large-scale system that is capable of generating both video and digitally controlled lighting is needed.
An example of a system that combines video and digitally controlled lighting system is found in reference to international patent application No. WO 99/31560, entitled, “Digitally controlled illumination methods and systems.” The '560 application details processor-controlled LED lighting system, including kinetic illumination, precision illumination, a “smart” light bulb, an entertainment lighting system, a power/data protocol, a data delivery track, lighting components and sensor/feedback applications. In one embodiment of the invention, the lighting control signal can be embedded in any conventional electronic transmission signal, for example music, compact disc, television, videotape, video game, computer network, broadcast, cable, broadband or other communications signal. Therefore, for example, the lighting control signal may be embedded into an entertainment signal, for example, a television signal, so that, when the television signal is processed, a portion of the bandwidth of the television signal can control lighting. For example, in this embodiment, the color and intensity of room lights, as well as other lighting effects, may be directly controlled through a television signal. Thus, a television signal may instruct the room lights to dim at certain points during the presentation, to strobe to different colors at other points and to flash at other points.
However, the invention requires a decoder in order to split the incoming combined signal into a separate entertainment signal and lighting control signals. Subsequently, a lighting block that is used only for illumination purposes and an entertainment device that can be used only to display video process these signals. Therefore, the present invention is limited, in that it requires the use of separate modules for video display or lighting. Thus, what is needed is an electronic apparatus capable of providing both standard video and standard digital lighting technology for a generic lighting module.